In the 1930’s and the 40’s
Hitler was in power
And he had followers
Nazi’s, guards

The Nazi’s had orders,
Orders to exterminate all Jews
And to kill the people who could not work
That work was done in forced labor camps.

The Nazi’s were hungry lions who were starved for death
They had gnashing teeth and sharp claws
That killed the Jews,
Like lions killing their prey

The forced labor camps had names
Names like Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and Augsburg
The concentration camps still stand today
And people visit them to see what it was like

The camps were prisons.
Prisons for people who did nothing wrong,
But were accused of wrongdoings.
They got separated from their families
And died working for their enemies.

There were many hearts broken
And many people killed and dead
They died from gas chambers, disease, and starvation
Some even got shot and killed that way.

In the concentration camps, the Jews had to dig graves for themselves and help the Germans
Who were the captors.
And the Jews, and other minority groups, were the captives
Some people understood what was going on, and others were just doing their jobs.

The Jews were like zoo animals,
being held for no reason except for entertainment of the Nazi’s
The captors being the owners of the zoo and the captives being the animals
The Nazi’s being the zoo people and the visitors of the zoo.

But there were and still are survivors.
Survivors of that horrible time in their lives. In our lives.
Some were Otto Frank, Elli Friedmann, and Elie Wiesel
Who shared their experience with the world or wrote books about it

Otto Frank was Anne Frank’s father who published her diary that told of her time in hiding
Anne Frank's’ diary told of her life.
Of Miep and Peter
Of the guns and bombs
Of the quiet, the quiet that went on for 25 months

The books were accounts of the terror filled life
Of the separation of their families
And of food rations
Of marches to other camps,
In which some people died.

Fortunately, many people survived and told of their experience because
Now we know what it was like and we can learn from the genocide of Jewish people
And of other minority groups
Now the Jews can live their lives
Lives not filled with fear of being put into work camps
Because most of the world changed, for the better.

Remember that horrible times in their lives, in our lives.
So it’s not repeated,
And so it’s not forgotten.
For it will always be a part of their history,
And it should be a part of ours because the US helped to  liberate them.
And the soldiers saw their starvation, and saved them.